First-rate thinking on secondhand goods

If you think putting out $700 for a stroller is foolish extravagance, think again, says Web entrepreneur Daniel Nissanoff in his new book ''Futureshop."

Nissanoff says buying such an expensive stroller makes perfect sense. He points out that celebrities such as Gwyneth Paltrow and Madonna pay as much as $2,800 for Silver Cross Balmoral strollers, an exclusive brand that has become a Manhattan status symbol.

But Nissanoff is not arguing that a middle-class family should pony up $700 for a stroller just to show off, when it could probably buy a serviceable plastic one for $12.99. Here's what he says:

''Buying a new stroller for $700 is a good deal. A liquid secondhand stroller market means that your child is safe and happy in a stroller that you're proud to push, and then, when the harness is too snug, you can sell it for about $550 on eBay," Nissanoff writes. ''It will have cost you about the same as if you had bought a mediocre stroller to begin with." The stroller is only one of scores of examples the author provides to drive home the point that consumers today are increasingly shedding their ''accumulation" culture mind-set and are moving toward an ''auction" culture mind-set.

He means that consumers are buying more things with a plan to use and resell them while they still have value instead of keeping them until they can only be trashed or donated. Though eBay and some of its Web competitors have driven that trend, it has not nearly reached its potential. EBay and most of the other auction sites are too difficult for many people to use. But the number of facilitators such as drop shops, where one takes items to be traded, is rapidly increasing, he says. Those facilitators take care of the photographing, shipping, and other details of the process for a percentage of the sale. And they also eliminate the need for communication between sellers or traders and bidders. Nissanoff himself is the founder of Portero, an online facilitator that specializes in luxury goods.

As improvements continue to enhance the liquidity and security of trading and selling used goods online, Nissanoff says, the auction culture will assume the proportions of a consumer revolution that will transform the retail marketplace. He sees the creation of a cycle in which sales of new goods will increase by virtue of the buyers of quality used goods becoming attached to various brands. The other part of the cycle sees sellers of used goods using their recouped value to offset some of the cost of buying new ones.

Nissanoff sees businesses providing staffing and developing competencies for managing the secondary market for their products.

''Those that do will keep counterfeiters at bay by guaranteeing authenticity, and will thus gain the trust and loyalty of their clientele, increase their profits, have a firm grasp on what their sales figures really mean, and be adept at understanding the competition," he writes.

''Futureshop" reviews the history of the various forms the secondary market has taken from medieval times to the present as a platform for projecting its future. The book is a good read from that perspective, as well as for the practical advice it offers. It would be a good investment to buy it -- new or used.